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NEW ORLEANS FIVE YEARS AFTER THE STORM: A New Disaster Amid Recovery
JEFFERSON PARISH
ORLEANS PARISH
ST BERNARD PARISH
NEW ORLEANS
MISSISSIPPI T EXAS
ALABAMA FLORIDA
LO U I S I A N A
NEW ORLEANS
PLAQUEMINES PARISH
GULF OIL SPILL
GULF OF MEXICO
AU G U S T 2 0 1 0
CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 1
A Portrait Of New Orleans Residents In 2010 .................................................................................................. 2 The Recovery ................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Report Card On Specifics Of Progress ............................................................................................................... 11 Race In Orleans Parish ............................................................................................................................................ 18 Health Care In Orleans Parish .............................................................................................................................. 23 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................... 32 Appendix A: Survey Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 33
Appendix B: Survey Topline Results.................................................................................................................. 36
NEW ORLEANS FIVE YEARS AFTER THE STORM: A NEW DISASTER AMID RECOVERY
INTRODUCTION We began this series of three major surveys of Orleans Parish residents in 2006, one year after Hurricane Katrina pounded the city and water breached its overburdened levees, leaving 80 percent of the city underwater. In this third installment we spoke to parish residents during a new, unfolding economic and environmental disaster: an oil spill of unprecedented size in the Gulf waters off the Louisiana coast whose long term effects are at present incalculable even as its short term effects manifest in the form of dark, sticky oil washing up on the area’s shores. This third chapter of our survey series is intended to provide perspective at the five year anniversary of Katrina’s deadly arrival: How do residents feel now that the storm and flooding are five years behind them? How satisfied are they with the rebuilding process and what challenges and concerns animate them, both Katrina-related and otherwise? What does this new Gulf Coast disaster mean to them thus far? Like all surveys, our 2010 data is a snapshot of a point in time, a point before the horrendously leaking oil well was permanently capped, a point before the full extent of the disaster could be accurately assessed, a point representing the early months of a newly elected mayor’s tenure. 1 But as a snapshot, and building on what we learned about the views and real-life experiences of residents in 2008 and 2006, it proves helpful in understanding New Orleans’ continuing journey of recovery. The report below provides an unusually thorough look at how residents view the rebuilding process, the extent to which they see New Orleans as having healed from Katrina, and the extent to which they expect to be impacted by the Gulf Coast oil spill. It also assesses residents’ feelings about hot topics such as health care, jobs, crime and political corruption and catalogues the extent to which they are facing challenges paying bills, finding and keeping good jobs, and getting needed medical services in this difficult economy. Finally, the survey allows us to paint a picture of a city which remains divided by race and income, even as race relations seem to be on a positive trajectory.
1
The survey was conducted May 26- June 27, 2010. Mayor Mitch Landrieu was inaugurated into his first term in office May 3, 2010. The Gulf Coast Oil Spill began after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010 and was capped on July 15, 2010. Efforts to drill a permanent relief well were currently ongoing at time of writing. Kaiser Family Foundation
1
NEW ORLEANS FIVE YEARS AFTER THE STORM
A PORTRAIT OF NEW ORLEANS RESIDENTS IN 2010 The New Orleans of 2010 is not, of course, identical to the New Orleans that existed before the levees were breached and the city went underwater. Every city changes over a decade, but New Orleans has changed more than most. Most obviously, the physical landscape has changed, with formerly vibrant neighborhoods still emptied and other areas more crowded than ever. But the human landscape has changed as well. According to the 2000 Census – the last full count of the population before Hurricane Katrina – the city of New Orleans was made up of roughly 484,000 people. One year after the storm, the Census estimated that figure to have been more than halved to something like 208,000. Year by year the population figures have been increasing, though, so much so that in 2008, the Census Bureau estimated that New Orleans was the nation’s fastest growing city. 2 The most recent Census estimate suggests that the population is now above 350,000, putting it back at just over 70 percent of its size at the start of the decade. 3 Our 2010 survey coincides with the all-important national, decennial Census, and the city and region await the results of that enumeration at the end of this year – both what it will say about the size of the city’s population as well as about its makeup – with great interest. While we await those, however, our current survey suggests some important characteristics of Orleans Parish’s population.
Majority African American Parish; Most Lived in NOLA at Time Katrina Hit What is your race? Are you white, black or African American, Asian, or some other race?
Were you living in the New Orleans area at the time Hurricane Katrina hit or not?
9% No 34% White
56%
91%
African American
Yes
Asian 1% Other 3% Hispanic 4%
2
Refused 2%
Census Bureau press release. “New Orleans was Nation’s Fastest-Growing City in 2008: Population Getting Closer to Pre-Katrina Levels”. July 1, 2009. http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb09-99.html 3 From U.S. Census Bureau 2009 Estimates of Incorporated Places and Minor Civil Divisions, released June 22, 2010. http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/SUB-EST2009.html 2
Kaiser Family Foundation
NEW ORLEANS FIVE YEARS AFTER THE STORM
A Portrait of New Orleans Residents in 2010
The first thing to note is that most people who currently live in Orleans Parish (which constitutes the City of New Orleans) have been fairly long-term residents, having lived in the area when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Specifically, the survey suggests that nine in ten (91 percent) people now living in the parish lived in the city at the time of Katrina. About one in ten, however, are newcomers, a group that stands out as being substantially younger, more educated, more likely to be white and more likely to be renting (see table below). 4 Demographics of those living and not living in the New Orleans area at the time Hurricane Katrina hit
Age
Race
Income
Living situation
Education
Yes, lived in area since before Katrina (91% of population)
No, wasn’t in area in 2005 (9% of population)
18-29
22%
35%*
30-49
31
36
50-64
28
18
65+
17
7*
White
32
50*
Black
58
29*
Other
8
19*
Refused
2
3
